Diagnosis Unsolved | Antibiotics

Currently viewing the tag: "antibiotics"

Cowden Protocol: Month 1

By swollenmystery On January 21, 2013 · 4 Comments

After diligently watching all of the livestream videos from the 2012 ILADS Boston Lyme Disease Conference a month ago I still wasn’t convinced that long-term antibiotics were the way to go for treatment of chronic Lyme disease. Why? Perhaps it’s my nutrition classes teaching me about the importance of gut flora and maintaining a healthy gut terrain to allow the body to successfully fight off infection the way it was designed. Antibiotics tend to destroy large portions of bacteria that make up the gut terrain and don’t stop to ask whether specific bacteria are helpful or hindering. Or maybe it’s that some doctors and patients claim to have success with antibiotics, yet I still see so many instances where the drugs only seem effective while taking them, causing patients to relapse with symptoms again after finishing treatment. Or it could be the idea that multiple infections make it so difficult to target infections with the correct antibiotics–the idea that specific antibiotics may work well against a particular strain of borrelia burgdorferi but not as well for that unknown, non-Lyme spirochete hiding out in the deep recesses of the jaw. Those thoughts bring me to my latest method of treatment–the 6 month Cowden Protocol or Cowden Support Program as Nutramedix calls it. At my last visit with Dr. Yu in St. Louis a month ago, all of my meridians finally checked out normal yet I still had swollen [...]

Read Full Article →

1,000 Piece Dental Puzzle

By swollenmystery On November 14, 2012 · 2 Comments

When I was growing up, my grandma would often come stay with us for a week or two and she had one hobby I’ll always remember. Jigsaw Puzzles. She always had the most complex scenes – beautiful yet incredibly difficult. Whenever she got to that piece #998 and discovered it was missing, I loved to search around under the table looking for those last one or two lost pieces. I feel like this is exactly what’s going on with my health problems, a 1,000 piece puzzle, where the missing pieces are dental related. The last time I wrote, I was awaiting exploratory surgery in my jaw. This procedure was planned to take biopsy tissue samples of the bone near where my wisdom teeth #17 and #34 were removed seven years ago. Three weeks ago, I successfully made it through the procedure, which was a truly pleasant experience considering the circumstances. The surgery was like wisdom teeth extraction where my gums were cut open and the surgeon drilled out samples of the jaw bone to later send out to a lab. Unlike my previous wisdom teeth surgery, I was awake the whole time for this one. Dr. Stuart Moreland in St. Louis performed the procedure. Like Dr. Yu, the physician I’m working with that discovered my dental issue, Dr. Moreland was very helpful in educating me through the process and really took a look at my health in a holistic approach. During the surgery, a few surprises [...]

Read Full Article →

On The Right Path, But Not Out Of The Woods Yet

By swollenmystery On June 21, 2011 · 8 Comments

This weekend I completed (celebrated) finishing three months of a detox protocol for healing my gut naturally. While I’m not completely going back to the way I used to eat, I am going to start re-introducing more foods besides raw vegetables and bone broths. I feel like it’s graduation day. Welcome to life in post detox! Yes, it’s affected me that much. It’s so exciting to see the progress, even though it’s slower than I hoped at times. But I consider this detox protocol successful because it was designed to heal my gut, eliminate built-up antibiotics and other medicines I’ve taken over the years, and therefore allow my immune system to start to function properly again. I truly believe I’ve seen that happen over these last 12 weeks. The first signs were changes in bowel movements as my stools became more frequent, softer, and normal. Then after two months I finally began to see changes in my knee inflammation. For the last year both of my knees have always been swollen (a lot), even while on Prednisone for so long. This was the first time my knee effusions have shrunk to almost to normal size. Now from week to week I’m noticing my knees still flare up but usually one at a time and the swelling tends to be isolated to only one knee instead of both. Overall, walking, getting up and down from a seated position, and walking stairs have been so much easier, too. Even though [...]

Read Full Article →

Eat LESS Acidic Foods Like Lemon and Grapefruit

By swollenmystery On August 16, 2010 · 1 Comment

Due to an extended period of prednisone treatment for my inflammatory knee arthritis I recently developed a pesky case of thrush on the back of my tongue. The kind babies get? Sigh. Yes, the kind that babies get. After 5 weeks of this annoying white stuff, irritation, rinsing daily with hydrogen peroxide, endless brushing and scrubbing, I had it checked out by my local family practitioner. He gave me some lozenges to take for a week but that only seems to work slightly. Naturally, eating foods like lemons or grapefruit tend to sting so I’ve been avoiding them. Little did I know, those could be the foods that I need to eat right now. I stumbled across an intriguing article titled, “Acid and Alkaline-Forming Effects of Food and How Your Body Maintains a Healthy pH” that made me think twice about the foods I eat. To my surprise, fruits like lemons and grapefruit have a moderate to strong alkaline-forming effect on the body. Lately I’ve probably had more processed sugar and white flour than normal and began to question whether that isn’t helping my situation. I do eat a lot of fruits and vegetables but it seems as if every time I eat a lot of bread and meat together I get a subtle feeling of acid reflex in my throat. Dr. Kim explains in his article that normal functioning bodies have processes in place to keep your ph level in balance. Eating a lot of acidic [...]

Read Full Article →

Septic Arthritis or Reactive Arthritis?

By swollenmystery On March 5, 2010 · Add Comment

After a recent blood test to rule out Lyme disease and heavy metal toxicity, I asked my family doctor about bacteria and whether it could be a cause of my chronic knee inflammation. He did a few blood tests and I did test high for Strep B. Since I’m on hold for a few weeks to see a new rheumatologist I decided to do a little googling to see whether there is any correlation. To my surprise, septic arthritis has the exact same symptoms I’ve had for the past 2 years! According to Mayo Clinic’s definition of Septic Arthritis, germs infiltrate your joint — usually just one — and damage it, causing severe pain. Bacteria most commonly target your knee, though other joints can be affected. This sounds a lot like my condition, which is almost exclusively located in my knees. The symptoms for septic arthritis include fever, shaking chills, pain when bending the joint, swelling and warmth of the affected joint. Last spring I went through several weeks with a low grade fever and chills almost nightly. I no longer have the fevers or chills but the pain and swelling has remained. Furthermore, septic arthritis can be caused by bacteria, including strep bacteria, which starts with an infection somewhere else in the body and eventually works it’s way into and attacking the joint. More than just a few pieces of this puzzle fit together. The only thing I’m not sure about is that both my knees [...]

Read Full Article →

About Me

I'm a freelance web designer with a background in graphic design. I'm also a part-time nutrition student. When I'm not creating or designing, I'm studying nutrition. When I'm not doing either of those I'm usually eating or talking about food. I've been interested in health and fitness for a long time but it wasn't until I became seriously ill with a mysterious chronic autoimmune condition in my early 30s that I realized how intricate and complex the human body is.

Along my journey to healing from chronic illness and Lyme disease, I discovered that eating healthier has improved my life the most. This blog is not just a journal of my progress but is also intended to help anyone that might be suffering from an autoimmune illness. My goal is to learn how to support the body's natural healing process holistically so that it has the resources to fight off illness the way it was designed. As I learn more every day, I write about my journey here at Diagnosis Unsolved. Read more about how all this started and my story here.
-Brad Linberg-
Now Reading
Planned books:
- The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food by Kaayla T. Daniel
- Recipes for Repair: A Lyme Disease Cookbook by Gail Piazza, Laura Piazza
Current books:
- Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price
- Folks, This Ain’t Normal: A Farmer’s Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World by Joel Salatin
- The Salt/C Plus Protocol for Lyme Infection by M. Fett
- Seamus Mullen’s Hero Food: How Cooking with Delicious Things Can Make Us Feel Better by Seamus Mullen
- The Candida Cure: Yeast, Fungus by Ann Boroch
Recent books:
- The World’s Healthiest Foods, Essential Guide for the Healthiest Way of Eating by George Mateljan
- Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dict by Sally Fallon, Mary Enig
- Accidental Cure: Extraordinary Medicine for Extraordinary Patients by Simon Yu
- Cure Unknown: Inside the Lyme Epidemic by Pamela Weintraub
- The Top 10 Lyme Disease Treatments: Defeat Lyme Disease with the Best of Conventional and Alternativ by Bryan Rosner
View full Library

Cowden Protocol: Month 1

1,000 Piece Dental Puzzle

On The Right Path, But Not Out Of The Woods Yet

Eat LESS Acidic Foods Like Lemon and Grapefruit

Septic Arthritis or Reactive Arthritis?

Categories

Archives

Good Sites about Health, Lyme and Living

About Me

Now Reading

Planned books:

Current books:

Recent books:

Lime Disease – Story of Recovery

Cowden Protocol: Month 1

1,000 Piece Dental Puzzle

On The Right Path, But Not Out Of The Woods Yet

Eat LESS Acidic Foods Like Lemon and Grapefruit

Septic Arthritis or Reactive Arthritis?

Tags

Categories

Archives

Good Sites about Health, Lyme and Living

About Me

Now Reading

Planned books:

Current books:

Recent books:

Lime Disease – Story of Recovery